Consumers get happier in September as sentiment hits 1 year high

U.S. consumer sentiment rose in September to its highest in more than a year on more upbeat views on the domestic economy in the coming year, a survey released on Friday showed.

The Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan's preliminary September reading on the overall index on consumer sentiment came in at 84.6, the highest since July 2013, up from 82.5 in the final August reading. The number beat the median forecast of 83.3 among economists polled by Reuters.

"All of the early September gain was in the Expectations Index, while consumers judged current economic conditions slightly less favorably than in August,'' survey director Richard Curtin said in a statement.

"Although consumers anticipated a slowdown in employment growth, (they) expected the highest rate of growth in their wages in six years.''

The survey's gauge of consumer expectations jumped to 75.6 from the 71.3 reading last month and above a forecast of 73.0. The survey's barometer of current economic conditions dipped to 98.5 from 99.8 and below a forecast of 100.

The survey's one-year inflation expectation fell to 3.0 percent from 3.2 percent and the survey's five-to-10-year inflation outlook was at 2.8 percent from 2.9 percent.